Cong blames SP, BJP for violence in city

DEMANDING A judicial probe into the communal violence that broke out in the State Capital on Friday, the Congress said that the SP and the BJP had conspired to disrupt peace in the city for political reasons.

DEMANDING A judicial probe into the communal violence that broke out in the State Capital on Friday, the Congress said that the SP and the BJP had conspired to disrupt peace in the city for political reasons.

Talking to newsmen here on Sunday, UPCC president Salman Khurshid and Congress legislature party leader Pramod Tiwari said communal violence was instigated on the pattern of Gujarat as the district police administration kept mum for nearly four hours.

Tiwari said that a high court judge should conduct a inquiry into the matter. Tiwari said a delegation of the party led by Khurshid wanted to visit the affected areas but the district administration did not give permission. Expressing concern over four deaths in the riots, Tiwari said it was the result of total failure of the police. He said the SP’s complicity in violence was evident from the fact that a FIR had been lodged against SP city unit president.

Asserting that it was pre-planned, Tiwari said just a day before the riots SP MP from Agra Raj Babbar had expressed his fear about the riots at a meeting with Governor TV Rajewasr. Tiwari said while senior BJP leaders including former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, president Rajnath Singh and Kalyan Singh were present in the city on the day of trouble, the state BJP chief Kesari Nath Tripathi issued objectionable statements.

Tiwari said the intelligence department had forewarned the police about the communal trouble during the visit of the US President George Bush, but no preventive measures were taken. Tiwari said the government had been sheltering the criminals in the state.

In order to strengthen the organisation, the Congress decentralised the party unit. While appointing eight divisional heads, the party has empowered them to prepare for the assembly elections. They would report to Khurshid and UP in-charge Ashok Gehlot.

Those given responsibilities are Rashid Alvi (Saharanpur-Meerut), Dr Sanjay Singh (Moradabad-Barielly), Nirmal Khatri (Allahabad-Mirzapur), Rajbahadur (Varanasi-Azamgarh), Rampujan Patel (Gorakhpur-Basti-Devipatan), Rita Bahuguna Joshi (Lucknow-Faizabad), RPN Singh (Kanpur-Agra), and Rajeshpati Tripathi (Jhansi-Chitrakoot). Khurshid said divisional incharge would interact with the local leaders. He said party would also promote new faces in the assembly elections.